From the back of the book:
Paris, July, 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door-to-door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard--their secret hiding place--and promises to come back for him as soon as they are released.
Sixty Years Later: Sarah's story intertwines with that of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist investigating the roundup. In her research, Julia stumbles onto a trail of secrets that link her to Sarah, and to questions about her own romantic future.
Review:
The story of Sarah is amazing, and heartbreaking, and haunting. I found myself waiting as Julia's story unfolded to learn more about Sarah and the fate that had befallen her and her younger brother. Sarah's story twists and turns through an oft-overlooked roundup by the French police.
Julia's story seems more like the vehicle through which Sarah's story is told, although Julia's story has its own twists and turns. I honestly think that if Julia's story had been told seperately from Sarah's story it would have seemed more compelling.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Review #21: A Stone Creek Christmas by Linda Lael Miller
Synopsis/Review:
Olivia O'Ballivan is a vet in Stone Creek, Arizona. Her ability to communicate with animals makes her quite successful at her chosen profession, which she throws herself into with abandon. Tanner Quinn, a friend of Olivia's brother, has moved to town to complete a building project (a new vet clinic that Olivia's brother commissioned.) Olivia and Tanner meet under auspicious circumstances when Olivia's dog leads Olivia to Tanner's barn. There Olivia meets Butterpie, Tanner's daughter's horse, and proceeds to help the horse heal from emotional trauma.
The book also includes Tanner's daughter, Sophie, who desperately wants to come live with her father, not stay at boarding school, a lost reindeer, and a Christmas tree salesman named Kris Kringle.
This book is a fast-paced, traditional romance novel. There is just the right amount of suspension of belief required. And it has the right amount of Christmas fuzziness. I would recommend reading this book during the holidays to help bring a dose of Christmas cheer to a dreary winter day.
Olivia O'Ballivan is a vet in Stone Creek, Arizona. Her ability to communicate with animals makes her quite successful at her chosen profession, which she throws herself into with abandon. Tanner Quinn, a friend of Olivia's brother, has moved to town to complete a building project (a new vet clinic that Olivia's brother commissioned.) Olivia and Tanner meet under auspicious circumstances when Olivia's dog leads Olivia to Tanner's barn. There Olivia meets Butterpie, Tanner's daughter's horse, and proceeds to help the horse heal from emotional trauma.
The book also includes Tanner's daughter, Sophie, who desperately wants to come live with her father, not stay at boarding school, a lost reindeer, and a Christmas tree salesman named Kris Kringle.
This book is a fast-paced, traditional romance novel. There is just the right amount of suspension of belief required. And it has the right amount of Christmas fuzziness. I would recommend reading this book during the holidays to help bring a dose of Christmas cheer to a dreary winter day.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Review #20: When We Were Romans by Matthew Kneale
Synopsis (from amazon.com):
His latest novel features only a single voice yet is an equally impressive act of ventriloquism. The voice belongs to Lawrence, a 9-year-old British schoolboy on whom the reader is entirely dependent. That dependence requires us to hack through a narrative environment thick with run-on sentences, erratic spelling and a child's-eye view of turbulent and sometimes disturbing circumstances with his loving but chaotic protector, his "mum," Hannah.
"Mum is really clever," Lawrence confides, so when she suggests rather suddenly that they pick up and drive from their English country cottage to Rome, where she lived before her marriage, Lawrence unquestioningly complies. He packs up as many precious items as he can fit in Mum's "renno," wedging in his hamster, his Tintin and Asterix books, his Lego and Hot Wheels and his 3-year-old sister, Jemima.
The journey, while exhilarating, is far from a lark. As Lawrence describes it, their "adventure" is an attempt to flee the vaguely articulated menace posed by Lawrence's estranged father, who, according to Mum, has been spying on them, breaking into their cottage and turning their neighbors against them. "I will help mum," determines Lawrence, who assumes the role of the little husband and allows himself to feel angry or scared only during the brief lulls in Hannah's periods of manic desperation. "I cant get upset too actually or there will be nobody left," he says plainly, wringing our hearts.
Many things go wrong once they reach Italy: Their car breaks down; Mum periodically breaks down ("One moment she was all fine and then it was like a big ray just shon on her and made her go wrong"); she loses her passport and runs out of money; they wear out their welcome at the homes of Mum's old friends. Yet while these setbacks and the accompanying hum of anxiety are unnerving, the trip is not entirely a calamity.
For every mishap, there is a taste of elation: the "lovely fountains" at the "Piazzer navoner," a surrey ride at the "viller borgasey," the scrumptiousness of chocolate "crussons" and "spaggetties," the purchase of toy Roman soldiers, with which Lawrence makes plans to build a fort. These highlights shine with relief and even grandeur: "I thought 'hurrah hurrah, now we are real Romans' I thought 'now we will really be safe.' " If only that were true; if only the threat of his dad's encroachment did not devolve into a nightmare of his mother's paranoia.
During one of her manic episodes, Mum and Lawrence build a cardboard Roman fort together, an activity that lives in his memory as a magical event. "It was like we were solders in a battile," he says. Their enemies might be real or they might be imagined, but what's absolutely true for Lawrence is his unshakable belief in the conspiracy of his and his mother's love. "Conspire" means "to breathe together," and so he does with Mum, and so we do with him.
Review:
I include the above synopsis because I think that the snippets of the story are so delightfully characteristic of this book that I couldn't resist. Lawrence is an amazing narrator, one you won't encounter again. His child's voice and perceptions add to the bittersweet quality of the novel. Lawrence loves his mother with a fierce devotion that I think many children have for their parents. His mother, however, suffers from severe paranoia. This limits her ability to care for Lawrence and his little sister. I think the most heartbreaking aspect of the book is the ending, which I won't spoil here. But, really, I think that you should do yourself a favor and read this book.
His latest novel features only a single voice yet is an equally impressive act of ventriloquism. The voice belongs to Lawrence, a 9-year-old British schoolboy on whom the reader is entirely dependent. That dependence requires us to hack through a narrative environment thick with run-on sentences, erratic spelling and a child's-eye view of turbulent and sometimes disturbing circumstances with his loving but chaotic protector, his "mum," Hannah.
"Mum is really clever," Lawrence confides, so when she suggests rather suddenly that they pick up and drive from their English country cottage to Rome, where she lived before her marriage, Lawrence unquestioningly complies. He packs up as many precious items as he can fit in Mum's "renno," wedging in his hamster, his Tintin and Asterix books, his Lego and Hot Wheels and his 3-year-old sister, Jemima.
The journey, while exhilarating, is far from a lark. As Lawrence describes it, their "adventure" is an attempt to flee the vaguely articulated menace posed by Lawrence's estranged father, who, according to Mum, has been spying on them, breaking into their cottage and turning their neighbors against them. "I will help mum," determines Lawrence, who assumes the role of the little husband and allows himself to feel angry or scared only during the brief lulls in Hannah's periods of manic desperation. "I cant get upset too actually or there will be nobody left," he says plainly, wringing our hearts.
Many things go wrong once they reach Italy: Their car breaks down; Mum periodically breaks down ("One moment she was all fine and then it was like a big ray just shon on her and made her go wrong"); she loses her passport and runs out of money; they wear out their welcome at the homes of Mum's old friends. Yet while these setbacks and the accompanying hum of anxiety are unnerving, the trip is not entirely a calamity.
For every mishap, there is a taste of elation: the "lovely fountains" at the "Piazzer navoner," a surrey ride at the "viller borgasey," the scrumptiousness of chocolate "crussons" and "spaggetties," the purchase of toy Roman soldiers, with which Lawrence makes plans to build a fort. These highlights shine with relief and even grandeur: "I thought 'hurrah hurrah, now we are real Romans' I thought 'now we will really be safe.' " If only that were true; if only the threat of his dad's encroachment did not devolve into a nightmare of his mother's paranoia.
During one of her manic episodes, Mum and Lawrence build a cardboard Roman fort together, an activity that lives in his memory as a magical event. "It was like we were solders in a battile," he says. Their enemies might be real or they might be imagined, but what's absolutely true for Lawrence is his unshakable belief in the conspiracy of his and his mother's love. "Conspire" means "to breathe together," and so he does with Mum, and so we do with him.
Review:
I include the above synopsis because I think that the snippets of the story are so delightfully characteristic of this book that I couldn't resist. Lawrence is an amazing narrator, one you won't encounter again. His child's voice and perceptions add to the bittersweet quality of the novel. Lawrence loves his mother with a fierce devotion that I think many children have for their parents. His mother, however, suffers from severe paranoia. This limits her ability to care for Lawrence and his little sister. I think the most heartbreaking aspect of the book is the ending, which I won't spoil here. But, really, I think that you should do yourself a favor and read this book.
Review #19: The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
Synopsis (from amazon.com):
Sisterly rivalry is the basis of this fresh, wonderfully vivid retelling of the story of Anne Boleyn. Anne, her sister Mary and their brother George are all brought to the king's court at a young age, as players in their uncle's plans to advance the family's fortunes. Mary, the sweet, blond sister, wins King Henry VIII's favor when she is barely 14 and already married to one of his courtiers. Their affair lasts several years, and she gives Henry a daughter and a son. But her dark, clever, scheming sister, Anne, insinuates herself into Henry's graces, styling herself as his adviser and confidant. Soon she displaces Mary as his lover and begins her machinations to rid him of his wife, Katherine of Aragon. This is only the beginning of the intrigue that Gregory so handily chronicles, capturing beautifully the mingled hate and nearly incestuous love Anne, Mary and George ("kin and enemies all at once") feel for each other and the toll their family's ambition takes on them. Mary, the story's narrator, is the most sympathetic of the siblings, but even she is twisted by the demands of power and status; charming George, an able plotter, finally brings disaster on his own head by falling in love with a male courtier. Anne, most tormented of all, is ruthless in her drive to become queen, and then to give Henry a male heir.
Review:
This book is incredibly dense with story. I had a hard time getting through the first 200 pages because the story moved so slowly. The last half of the book was much more swift moving. What I did appreciate about this book was the way Phillipa Gregory was able to convey a woman's position in Tudor-Stewart England. And whatever you feel about Mary and Anne, Gregory makes it clear that they are very much the pawns of their family's ambition. It's an interesting read overall.
Sisterly rivalry is the basis of this fresh, wonderfully vivid retelling of the story of Anne Boleyn. Anne, her sister Mary and their brother George are all brought to the king's court at a young age, as players in their uncle's plans to advance the family's fortunes. Mary, the sweet, blond sister, wins King Henry VIII's favor when she is barely 14 and already married to one of his courtiers. Their affair lasts several years, and she gives Henry a daughter and a son. But her dark, clever, scheming sister, Anne, insinuates herself into Henry's graces, styling herself as his adviser and confidant. Soon she displaces Mary as his lover and begins her machinations to rid him of his wife, Katherine of Aragon. This is only the beginning of the intrigue that Gregory so handily chronicles, capturing beautifully the mingled hate and nearly incestuous love Anne, Mary and George ("kin and enemies all at once") feel for each other and the toll their family's ambition takes on them. Mary, the story's narrator, is the most sympathetic of the siblings, but even she is twisted by the demands of power and status; charming George, an able plotter, finally brings disaster on his own head by falling in love with a male courtier. Anne, most tormented of all, is ruthless in her drive to become queen, and then to give Henry a male heir.
Review:
This book is incredibly dense with story. I had a hard time getting through the first 200 pages because the story moved so slowly. The last half of the book was much more swift moving. What I did appreciate about this book was the way Phillipa Gregory was able to convey a woman's position in Tudor-Stewart England. And whatever you feel about Mary and Anne, Gregory makes it clear that they are very much the pawns of their family's ambition. It's an interesting read overall.
Review #18: McKettrick's Choice by Linda Lael Miller
Synopsis (from amazon.com):
Holt McKettrick leaves his mail-order bride at the altar when a rider appears at the Triple M Ranch in the Arizona Territory with the news that John Cavanagh, the buffalo soldier who raised him, is being forced off his land and that his friend Gabe is about to be hanged. Riding hard, Holt reaches San Antonio just as Lorelei Fellows torches her wedding dress. The daughter of the judge who sentenced Gabe to hang, Lorelei refuses to marry a sleazy lawyer and takes refuge on the tiny dilapidated ranch left to her by her mother. Holt has to head to Mexico to bring back the evidence to free Gabe and the cattle needed to keep John Cavanagh's ranch from being taken over by a greedy schemer. And what a posse Holt assembles: Cavanagh's sweet, mentally challenged daughter; Gabe's very pregnant lover; and Lorelei.
Review:
This book started quickly and slowly at the same time, which is confusing I know. What I mean is that the action hits the ground running as Holt leaves his mail order bride at the altar to head back to San Antonio to help save his friend and help his foster father. And the action never really stops.
However, the romance in this book crawls from the very beginning. Even at Holt and Lorelei's first meeting I didn't feel the connection that is present in a lot of Miller's books. What I did appreciate about this romance was how very realistically Holt and Lorelei's feelings developed for each other over time.
Holt McKettrick leaves his mail-order bride at the altar when a rider appears at the Triple M Ranch in the Arizona Territory with the news that John Cavanagh, the buffalo soldier who raised him, is being forced off his land and that his friend Gabe is about to be hanged. Riding hard, Holt reaches San Antonio just as Lorelei Fellows torches her wedding dress. The daughter of the judge who sentenced Gabe to hang, Lorelei refuses to marry a sleazy lawyer and takes refuge on the tiny dilapidated ranch left to her by her mother. Holt has to head to Mexico to bring back the evidence to free Gabe and the cattle needed to keep John Cavanagh's ranch from being taken over by a greedy schemer. And what a posse Holt assembles: Cavanagh's sweet, mentally challenged daughter; Gabe's very pregnant lover; and Lorelei.
Review:
This book started quickly and slowly at the same time, which is confusing I know. What I mean is that the action hits the ground running as Holt leaves his mail order bride at the altar to head back to San Antonio to help save his friend and help his foster father. And the action never really stops.
However, the romance in this book crawls from the very beginning. Even at Holt and Lorelei's first meeting I didn't feel the connection that is present in a lot of Miller's books. What I did appreciate about this romance was how very realistically Holt and Lorelei's feelings developed for each other over time.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Review #17: The Man From Stone Creek by Linda Lael Miller
Synopsis:
Lawman Sam O'Ballivan heads to Haven, Arizona posing as a schoolteacher so he can help to catch a group of outlaws causing trouble in the area. Running a school full of rough and tumble ranch kids requires a strong hand, and Sam has no problem doing that. What he didn't expect was that one of the students most in need of discipline would lead him to a woman who would change everything.
Maddie Chancelor runs the town general store as a way to provide for herself and her younger brother. She longs to own the store outright, but the wealthy landlord refuses to work with her. When Sam O'Ballivan drags her brother home with a stern reprimand for her as well, Maddie is furious. She can't stand the overbearing new schoolteacher, who seems nothing like what a schoolteacher should be.
Gunslingers, train robbers, fiances dying of outbreaks, secret sons, and shoot outs keep Maddie and Sam busy and on their toes. Still, this doesn't stop their undeniable connection and smoldering passion. As their love grows and they surmount obstacle after obstacle, it becomes clear that they must be together.
My review:
The action in this book starts quickly. In the opening pages, Sam O'Ballivan arrives at his teaching post to discover the students tormenting their current teacher. He rescues the man and reprimands the students. This one scene sets the stage for the whole book, starting a chain of events that prove exciting for the duration.
Sam O'Ballivan is a strong character, who, despite his necessary toughness, has a good heart. Maddie Chancelor offers a strong contrast to Sam's rough exterior, with her dedication to her younger brother and her job at the store. They share a sense of obligation to their promised duties, even when their hearts urge them to find a different path.
The minor characters in the book fill out the world of Haven, Arizona Territory so convincingly that it becomes a wholly believable world. Linda Lael Miller also makes the setting in the book take on the life of a character. Arizona Territory actually breathes and moves with the characters.
My Thoughts:
I have read a lot of Linda Lael Miller books, and this is by far my favorite. The story moves quickly, the love feels real, and the historical context seems right. Unlike many other romance novels, this book departs somewhat from the standard formula. Miller delves richly into the history, which makes the story live in my imagination even now as I write this.
If you love historical romances and are looking for something with a different flavor, I highly recommend this book.
Lawman Sam O'Ballivan heads to Haven, Arizona posing as a schoolteacher so he can help to catch a group of outlaws causing trouble in the area. Running a school full of rough and tumble ranch kids requires a strong hand, and Sam has no problem doing that. What he didn't expect was that one of the students most in need of discipline would lead him to a woman who would change everything.
Maddie Chancelor runs the town general store as a way to provide for herself and her younger brother. She longs to own the store outright, but the wealthy landlord refuses to work with her. When Sam O'Ballivan drags her brother home with a stern reprimand for her as well, Maddie is furious. She can't stand the overbearing new schoolteacher, who seems nothing like what a schoolteacher should be.
Gunslingers, train robbers, fiances dying of outbreaks, secret sons, and shoot outs keep Maddie and Sam busy and on their toes. Still, this doesn't stop their undeniable connection and smoldering passion. As their love grows and they surmount obstacle after obstacle, it becomes clear that they must be together.
My review:
The action in this book starts quickly. In the opening pages, Sam O'Ballivan arrives at his teaching post to discover the students tormenting their current teacher. He rescues the man and reprimands the students. This one scene sets the stage for the whole book, starting a chain of events that prove exciting for the duration.
Sam O'Ballivan is a strong character, who, despite his necessary toughness, has a good heart. Maddie Chancelor offers a strong contrast to Sam's rough exterior, with her dedication to her younger brother and her job at the store. They share a sense of obligation to their promised duties, even when their hearts urge them to find a different path.
The minor characters in the book fill out the world of Haven, Arizona Territory so convincingly that it becomes a wholly believable world. Linda Lael Miller also makes the setting in the book take on the life of a character. Arizona Territory actually breathes and moves with the characters.
My Thoughts:
I have read a lot of Linda Lael Miller books, and this is by far my favorite. The story moves quickly, the love feels real, and the historical context seems right. Unlike many other romance novels, this book departs somewhat from the standard formula. Miller delves richly into the history, which makes the story live in my imagination even now as I write this.
If you love historical romances and are looking for something with a different flavor, I highly recommend this book.
Friday, June 4, 2010
On reading Linda Lael Miller books
If you have glanced through this blog or my "books read" list, you may have noticed an abundance of Linda Lael Miller books. And maybe you even wondered why on earth someone would want to read so many books by the same author. Especially a romance author. Aren't all those books basically the same anyway?
Yes and no.
I started reading Linda Lael Miller last year when I read A Creed Country Christmas. (This might be a good time to mention that romance novels have been my guilty pleasure since high school.) Before reading this book, it had been quite awhile since I had read a romance novel. A Creed Country Christmas made me remember how much I loved this genre, and I found that I really liked Linda Lael Miller's style. So I decided to read more.
The more books I read by Miller, the more I liked her characters and the world she had woven. Yes, it is a bit excessive, but it is such fun. I plan on reading more of her books. And I really recommend her books to any romance fans.
Yes and no.
I started reading Linda Lael Miller last year when I read A Creed Country Christmas. (This might be a good time to mention that romance novels have been my guilty pleasure since high school.) Before reading this book, it had been quite awhile since I had read a romance novel. A Creed Country Christmas made me remember how much I loved this genre, and I found that I really liked Linda Lael Miller's style. So I decided to read more.
The more books I read by Miller, the more I liked her characters and the world she had woven. Yes, it is a bit excessive, but it is such fun. I plan on reading more of her books. And I really recommend her books to any romance fans.
Review #16: A McKettrick Christmas by Linda Lael Miller
Synopsis (from amazon.com):
Miller's perfunctory McKettrick franchise Christmas spinoff begins with Lizzie McKettrick's trip home with beau Whitley Carson getting derailed by an avalanche that stops their train. Lizzie and handsome doctor Morgan Shane care for the injured and scared passengers, and soon Lizzie develops feelings for the doc while realizing her affection for Whitley is not as serious as she first thought. As passenger fears mount and Lizzie waits for her family to rescue them, the stranded passengers appreciate Christmas in small moments shared with strangers.
Review:
A nice Christmas story, especially for anyone who has read Linda Lael Miller before.
Miller's perfunctory McKettrick franchise Christmas spinoff begins with Lizzie McKettrick's trip home with beau Whitley Carson getting derailed by an avalanche that stops their train. Lizzie and handsome doctor Morgan Shane care for the injured and scared passengers, and soon Lizzie develops feelings for the doc while realizing her affection for Whitley is not as serious as she first thought. As passenger fears mount and Lizzie waits for her family to rescue them, the stranded passengers appreciate Christmas in small moments shared with strangers.
Review:
A nice Christmas story, especially for anyone who has read Linda Lael Miller before.
Review #15: Sierra's Homecoming by Linda Lael Miller
Synopsis (from amazon.com):
When she moved to her family's ancestral ranch, single mom Sierra McKettrick was disconcerted by the Triple M's handsome caretaker, Travis Reid. But when her son claimed to see a mysterious boy in the house, and an heirloom teapot started popping up in unexpected places, Sierra wondered if the attraction between herself and Travis might be the least of her worries.
In 1919, widowed Hannah McKettrick lived at the ranch with her son and her brother-in-law, Doss. Her confused feelings for Doss and her son's health problems occupied all her thoughts…until the family teapot started disappearing.
Could Sierra and her ancestor, Hannah, be living parallel lives?
Review:
This was a typical length romance novel, which translates to a very quick read. The difference between this book and typical romance novels however was it's inventiveness. The parallel stories of Sierra and Hannah were wonderfully woven together. Not only were the stories parallel, but Linda Lael Miller touched on a paranormal element of the two women being connected by a family album through which they were able to write notes back and forth, and a teapot. The teapot was a nice touch because one woman would move it and the other would find it in a strange place. It added to their connectedness.
The characters were likable. The story moved quickly, and provided another link in Miller's McKettrick storyline. Overall a very nice read.
When she moved to her family's ancestral ranch, single mom Sierra McKettrick was disconcerted by the Triple M's handsome caretaker, Travis Reid. But when her son claimed to see a mysterious boy in the house, and an heirloom teapot started popping up in unexpected places, Sierra wondered if the attraction between herself and Travis might be the least of her worries.
In 1919, widowed Hannah McKettrick lived at the ranch with her son and her brother-in-law, Doss. Her confused feelings for Doss and her son's health problems occupied all her thoughts…until the family teapot started disappearing.
Could Sierra and her ancestor, Hannah, be living parallel lives?
Review:
This was a typical length romance novel, which translates to a very quick read. The difference between this book and typical romance novels however was it's inventiveness. The parallel stories of Sierra and Hannah were wonderfully woven together. Not only were the stories parallel, but Linda Lael Miller touched on a paranormal element of the two women being connected by a family album through which they were able to write notes back and forth, and a teapot. The teapot was a nice touch because one woman would move it and the other would find it in a strange place. It added to their connectedness.
The characters were likable. The story moved quickly, and provided another link in Miller's McKettrick storyline. Overall a very nice read.
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